Art students at Kentwood High School were hard at work putting their thoughts about peace onto small pinwheels which were displayed last Sunday as part of International Peace Day.

Hundreds of the small, paper peace offerings were set up in Foss Circle near the school Saturday evening and taken down the following night, an apolitical statement in support of a more peaceful planet.

“It’s not meant to be political,” art teacher Leslie Armstrong said. “It’s just a beautiful gesture.”

Armstrong said she discovered the project last summer while doing “usual teacher stuff” – searching the Internet for ways to put a “new spin” on her projects, no pun intended.

Armstrong stumbled across the Pinwheels for Peace Web site, which called for students around the planet to “Visualize Whirled Peace” (pun intended this time).

“I saw it and it intrigued me,” said Armstrong, who offered it to her students, although the project isn’t being graded.

“They thought it would be fun to participate in something important,” she said.

Working from a template, the students decorated one side of their pinwheels with colors or designs and the other side with words encapsulating their feelings on war, peace, tolerance and harmony.

Sh-nae Legras, 17, decorated her pinwheel with her favorite colors and covered the back with the words “faith,” “hope,” “peace” and “love.” They “seemed like fun, peaceful words,” she said.

Legras said she hoped people would see the display and stop and think about International Peace Day.

“We need more peace in our world,” she said.

Kara Yamaguchi’s project included the words “peace,” “love,” “joy” and “harmony” repeated over and over in bright pink and purple.

“When you think of a world without war, those are the words that come to mind,” said Yamaguchi, 15.

The swirling purples and oranges of of Allen Newby’s pinwheel were inspired by rock music legend Jimi Hendrix, and the language on the other side was from the Bible’s 2 Corinthians.

Iman Khorrami, 17, went in a different direction, choosing an American flag as the motif, with the words “peace” and “love” repeated on the back.

“I thought it kind of represents peace,” he said. “That’s what America is trying to do.”

Armstrong said getting the kids thinking about peace and how to represent the concept gets to the heart of an artist’s role.

“The arts are the thing we do that separates us from other creatures,” she said. “That kind of activity, when done, contributes to peace.”

“Whenever you are drawing or doing some sort of art, you are peaceful,” agreed Yamaguchi.

Armstrong said her role as a teacher is to not only teach art, but to help build a community by encouraging young people to take a larger role.

“We have a larger responsibility because what we say counts,” she said, sifting through the box of hundreds of Pinwheels for Peace. “And what a statement.”